Geoengineering
By: Vika • Essay • 358 Words • June 2, 2010 • 915 Views
Geoengineering
GeoEngineering
The concept of geoengineering has been around for close to a decade. Every time geoengineering is brought to the table, it is dismissed as taboo or too science-fictional. Well, amidst the growing urgency to stop or reduce global warming, some concepts that were introduced years ago are being re-evaluated. Geoengineering seems like a valid enough concept to become our planet’s last resort to stopping global warming. Various analyses have been done to determine if geoengineering would be effective. “A study published in Science describes one such analysis, using computer modeling to investigate various scenarios; according to the study, human efforts to inject heat-reflecting material into the upper atmosphere (mimicking the effects of major volcanic eruptions) might represent a viable option for cooling the Earth.”
Global warming is an indisputable problem that our planet faces. For many scientists, focused as they are on the long-term consequences of global warming, prompt and decisive government action to cut fossil fuel use seems like an obvious step, a no-brainer. But there are economic costs to such actions.. The net result is that not much has been done to limit fossil fuel use or other human actions that contribute to global warming.
Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen has been researching ways to lower the emission of green house